How much does a website cost

Imagine asking a Real Estate company, “How much does a house cost?” Well it depends. First off, what are the essentials you need? Three bedrooms because you have two kids? Central air conditioning because you live down south? Now that we have the essentials, what are some of the less essential, yet nice features? Basement? Extra storage? Large backyard? Three car garage? What if you could have it your way? How about a pool? Sounds nice right?

All these factors go into the price, yet we all have a budget to adhere to. Most of the time it comes down to what we can afford. Many times this means opting out of some of the less essential amenities. Even if we opt out in the beginning doesn’t mean we can’t potentially add them later. Wanted a pool, but couldn’t afford it upfront? Save up a bit more and you’ll get your pool in a few years. Great things take time.

How does this relate to web design?

I cannot count how many times I receive the “How much does a website cost?” email. Design in any instance doesn’t have a generalized price tag. It’s an investment of experience and time. While the experience factor is tough one to measure and quote, the amount of time, on the other hand, depends on the scale, complexity, features, elements, components, and so on.

Typically, I start off with a conversation about my client I start off by going over a list to get a idea about the scale of the project, which helps to gauge the project from the get go appropriately. Questions such as, “Does the redesign need copywriting?”, “Will your site require a CMS?”, “Which ‘social’ feature(s), if any, will be required?”, help to get a general feel for the timing and scale of their specific site.

If you can’t give a price then how do you start?

As stated above there are a lot of factors that determine the price of a website, so it can be intimidating to start in the first place. Thats why I always advice my (potential) costumers to just dream up the perfect website. That gives us a basic plan. Once we got this all figured out we can start by defining which of the features are the most important. That way you can slowly start carving out a base plan.

I hope this is helping you with your quest to a website project. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.